


The Land Brought Forth Frogs

by Zdenka



Category: Jewish Scripture & Legend
Genre: Collection: Purimgifts Day 3, Gen, Plague of Frogs
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-03-18
Updated: 2019-03-18
Packaged: 2019-11-23 11:02:40
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 579
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18151013
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Zdenka/pseuds/Zdenka
Summary: Miriam befriends the frogs.





	The Land Brought Forth Frogs

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Treon](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Treon/gifts).



When Pharaoh wouldn’t let the Children of Israel go, God spoke to Moses, saying that he should tell Aaron to stretch out his staff over the waters of the river Nile. Aaron stretched out his staff, and at once many frogs came up from the water and swarmed through all the land of Egypt, in the houses of the Egyptians, even in Pharaoh’s royal palace.

Miriam the sister of Moses and Aaron rose early in the morning, to do the work which the Egyptians ordered them to do, and she went to the fields with her companions. As they were walking to the fields, they saw a line of frogs hopping towards them—so many frogs that their numbers couldn’t be counted. One of Miriam’s companions shrieked and clutched at her arm, and she exclaimed, “Why are there so many ugly frogs?”

Miriam smiled and said, “Don’t call them ugly! Everything that the Lord has made is beautiful.”

The frogs were closer to them now, and they said to Miriam, “Prophetess, we have come up from the Nile to fulfil the Lord’s command. Please don’t hinder us from our work!”

Miriam said, “If you are doing what the Holy One, blessed be He, has commanded you, then I will not hinder you. Go in peace, and fulfil your task!”

The frogs continued on, hopping and croaking, and Miriam and her companions went to do their work.

As Miriam worked, she heard the overseers complaining. There were frogs in their houses and frogs in the streets. There were frogs hopping into the food when they wanted to eat, frogs in the kneading-trough when their wives went to make bread, frogs in the blankets when they wanted to sleep—and the frogs croaked so loudly all night that they barely got a wink of sleep at all. And this continued for seven days.

At last Pharaoh could no longer bear the presence of the frogs, and he said to Moses and Aaron, “Plead with the Lord to remove the frogs from me and my people, and I will let your people go.”

Then Moses prayed to God to remove the plague of frogs. But the frogs were too far away from the river to get back to it, and many of them began to die. When she saw this, Miriam felt sorry for the frogs, so she gathered up as many as she could in the skirts of her robe and carried them to the river. She went back and forth, carrying frogs to the river, and when she reached the river, she put the frogs back into the water.

The frogs soon felt the water revive them, and they stuck their heads out of the river to speak to Miriam. “Thank you,” they said. “We will not forget your kindness. The next time there is a sad occasion, we will mourn with you, but if there is a happy occasion, we will sing and dance with you!”

Miriam could not help smiling at the thought of the frogs singing along in their croaking voices. But she didn’t want to hurt their feelings, so she only said, “Thank you, you are very kind!”

When the Children of Israel crossed the Red Sea in safety and they were truly free, Miriam led all the women in song, singing and dancing with timbrels. The frogs heard, and they too came out of the reeds and sang melodiously, hopping about to show their happiness.

**Author's Note:**

> This was inspired by 1) the Book of Exodus, 2) a Jewish legend about the frogs during the Ten Plagues: the frogs were so eager to obey God's commands that they even threw themselves into hot ovens where bread was being baked in order to devour it (but God saved them and prevented them from being harmed by the fire), and 3) reading a whole bunch of Jewish fairy tales and folktales, including one about a frog that rewards a couple who treat him with kindness.
> 
> Image Credit: Detail (slightly edited) from an illustration by Virginia Frances Sterret in _Old French Fairy Tales_ by Sophie, Comtesse de Ségur, via Wikimedia Commons.


End file.
